AFRICAN PYGMY GOOSE 95 



Young: Nearly the same as female; forehead more or less brown according to age, the black band 

 on neck obscure or wholly lacking. Bill yellow; back side of tarsus and outer edge of toes yellow. 



Young in Down: Not described. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The Pygmy Goose is found in Africa south of the Sahara, and in Madagascar. On the west 

 coast it has been found as far north as Senegambia (Rendall, 1892) and Casamance (Verreaux, 1851). 

 Rochebrune (1883-85) also says it is common in the Senegambian region and it is re- Sene- 

 ported in large flocks on the Soma Swamp in Gambia (British Museum specimen), gambia 

 There are, however, few records of its occurrence from the coast of Portuguese Guinea to the Gold 

 Coast. Presumably it inhabits these regions. In the British Museum there is a single specimen from 

 Gunnal, Portuguese Guinea. From the Gold Coast it has been reported as occurring at Cape Coast 

 (Fraser, fide Reichenow, 1900) and at Volta (Ussher, 1874). Hartert (1886) found it Gold Coast 

 common at Porto Novo, Dahomey, and at Lagos, Nigeria, where it was also found Nigeria 

 by Ussher (1874). In northwestern Nigeria it is quite common near Kaura, and near Zaria 

 (Hartert, 1886, 1915) and on the Niger north even to Niame (Hartert, 1915). The species is not 

 yet known from eastern Nigeria or the northern Camerun, but it has been taken in central Cam- 

 erun, 150 miles from the coast (Reichenow, 1911), and is common in the French Congo, Camerun 

 in Gabun (Verreaux, 1851), Kamma (Cassin, 1859) and at Fernand Vaz (Bouvier, Gabun 

 1875). What its status in the interior may be I am unable to say, but it probably occurs 

 sporadically throughout the Congo Basin, although Chapin tells me he did not find it. Congo 

 There is a male specimen from the Belgian Congo (Lake Chiwakawaka) in the British Basin 

 Museum taken by 0. E. Wynne in 1912. It appears to be rare in Angola, whence it has been recorded 

 for Cuce, Humbe, and Huilla (Barboza de Bocage, 1877-81; British Museum specimen, G. Blaine, 

 1920) but has never been seen in German Southwest Africa. 



In Cape Colony it occurs only casually on the coasts and larger rivers (Stark and Sclater, 1906), 

 the westernmost record being Mossel Bay (South African Museum). H. A. Bryden considered it 

 "unknown" in Cape Colony in 1893. At Port Elizabeth it is rare (Brown, fide Stark and Cape 

 Sclater, 1906) as presumably in other recorded localities, namely, Grahamstown (Lay- Colony 

 ard, 1875-84), Alexandria and King William's Town (Trevelyan, fide Stark and Sclater, 1906), and 

 the Umtumvumu River, Pondoland (Horsbrugh, 1912). I have not succeeded in discovering any rec- 

 ords for the Orange River Colony, but in Natal it seems to be a fairly common bird (Gurney, 1859; 

 Marshall, 1900; etc.) and has been reported from near Howick, Maritzburg and Durban Natal 

 (Woodward, 1899), and from Zululand (Gordge, British Museum). In the Transvaal Transvaal 

 again, as in so many inland districts, it is very rare, having, so far as known, been taken only 

 near Potchefstroom (T. Ayres, 1886). In northeastern Bechuanaland, however, it is common in the 

 lake region, on Lake Ngami (Andersson, 1872), at Nocana (Fleck, 1894), and on the Botletli River 

 (Bryden, 1893). Neither is it a rare bird in South Rhodesia, where it was found at Sibanini in east 

 Matabeleland (Hellmayr, Journ. f. Ornith., vol. 50, p. 237, 1902), and in Mashonaland „, , . 

 (G. A. K. Marshall, 1900). ° eS>& 



The only record I find for southern Mozambique is that for Inhambane, where the species is not 

 uncommon (Sclater, rois, ser. 7, vol. 5, p. 1 14, 1899) . It must be a fairly common species all along the 

 coast. Kirk (1864) found it on the Zambesi, and it was found on the upper course of this river 

 by both Holub (Holub and von Pelzeln, 1882), and Bradshaw (fide Stark and Sclater, 1906). Neave 

 (1910) states that it is common in northern Rhodesia as well as in the Katanga region, southeast 

 Congo. Capello and Ivens (1886) have recorded it from Luapala and the Nyassa country. It 

 has been met with at Kotakota, Nyassaland (Shelley, 1898), and at Kachinda and Namaramba 

 (Shelley, 1896). 



